Witness to 1951 slaying still grieves

For decades, Daniel F. Herlihy has kept a pair of framed photos on a bureau in his bedroom. One is of himself, in his U.S. Army uniform. The other is of his childhood friend from Ireland, Sean Goggin. Mr. Goggin, 20, came to the United States to live with Mr. Herlihy and his uncle, Cornelius Herlihy, at 191 Fairhaven Road. In less than a week, the young pattern maker was dead, shot to death by an unknown pair of killers.

PHOTO/ T&G Staff/PAUL KAPTEYN

Daniel Herlihy holds framed photographs of himself, left, and shooting victim Sean Goggin. Mr. Herlihy was a witness to the shooting in 1951.

For decades, Daniel F. Herlihy has kept a pair of framed photos on a bureau in his bedroom.

One is of himself, in his U.S. Army uniform. The other is of his childhood friend from Ireland, Sean Goggin.

Mr. Goggin, 20, came to the United States to live with Mr. Herlihy and his uncle, Cornelius Herlihy, at 191 Fairhaven Road. In less than a week, the young pattern maker was dead, shot to death by an unknown pair of killers.

Now 83, Mr. Herlihy still remembers what happened on March 11, 1951. The pain ran deep for years. He still wonders what brought two armed men to the family's door that night.

“He didn't have any enemies. If he did, I wouldn't deal with him. The Herlihys didn't have any enemies,” Mr. Herlihy said from his Eunice Avenue home, not far from the scene of the killing. “What then brought two people with guns to the front door? I don't know.”

A couple of years ago, Mr. Herlihy, a former city councilor whose first name at birth was Donal, began to write down what happened to his friend. His daughter, Eileen Pacilio, helped him edit it.

Copies went to his family members. Mr. Herlihy sent the account to Mr. Goggin's family members as well.

“He made copies of it all and gave it to everyone in our family so that we would follow through with it,” said another of Mr. Herlihy's daughters, Mary E. Knittle. “We all have files on this as evidence, or to support it, or just to keep it alive. I think it was a cathartic process for him.”

On Aug. 6 of this year, the Telegram & Gazette reported that police had reopened the investigation into Mr. Goggin's killing. Members of the Worcester Police Department's Unresolved Homicide Unit said evidence from the 61-year old murder case was being submitted for DNA testing.

Detectives hope a profile of the killers might be discovered. The detectives believe Mr. Goggin and his living relatives deserve closure.

The day the newspaper's story appeared, Mr. Herlihy and his wife, Joan, were in Youghal, Ireland, visiting Mr. Goggin's grave. Ms. Knittle called them to tell them the news.

Mr. Goggin's four brothers are now dead. His family across the globe still wonders about what happened. A reporter in Youghal told them about a video, produced by the Telegram & Gazette, and about the investigation.

On Aug. 19, several of Mr. Goggin's family went to his grave in Youghal.

“We went to tell him,” said Mr. Goggin's niece, Brid Sexton, 47, in a telephone interview from her home in Ireland. She is the daughter of one of Sean Goggin's brothers.

She said they told him: “Sean, we're all still thinking of you, and we're hopefully going to close what happened. Hopefully, you can rest in peace.”

After a visit to the family's plot, a dozen of Mr. Goggin's relatives had coffee. They discussed the case; they discussed the family's lineage.

But the news of the Worcester police review of Mr. Goggin's killing gave his 22 family members in Ireland and other parts of the world a sense of elation.

“Because it was like, 'Oh my God, somebody actually has chosen Sean Goggin's case,' ” she said. “I got emotional, because of hearing of him all these years. Firstly, to see the photograph and to hear about how well it had been investigated at the time. We never expected them to do the amount of work they did 61 years ago.”

Mr. Herlihy, who was interviewed by Detective Sgt. Mark J. Sawyer, recalled his childhood friend as a good man. Their parents were best friends growing up in Youghal.

“You couldn't find a nicer person. He could sing, he could dance,” Mr. Herlihy said of his friend. “He could do a lot of things that were important to the Irish.”

When asked if the ladies were smitten by Mr. Goggin, Mr. Herlihy gave a coy smile.

“I would say so,” he answered.

Mr. Goggin first arrived in Canada in early 1949. He worked there as a pattern maker and lived in a rooming house in Toronto. He visited Mr. Herlihy here in Worcester in 1950.

Mr. Goggin asked his friend for $1,000 to immigrate to the United States. Mr. Herlihy's uncle offered to claim Mr. Goggin. Cornelius Herlihy got the young man a job as a pattern maker here. Mr. Goggin was scheduled to go to work the morning after his killing.

Everyone in the Herlihy home was ready for bed the night of the murder.

“We had said our prayers and Monday he was to go to work,” Mr. Herlihy said. The two men were staying in twin beds in the same room.

About 15 minutes after the Herlihy home received an odd phone call there was a knock at the back door. It would have been around 10:45 p.m. Two men said they had a Western Union telegram.

“Western Union telegrams always brought bad news to the Irish, because people in Ireland didn't have telephones so they'd send a telegram,” Mr. Herlihy said.

The two men were told to go to the front door. Cornelius Herlihy opened the door and saw two armed men in front of him. His wife, Ellen, was behind the door. Mr. Goggin was next to him with Mr. Herlihy at his side.

One man said, “This is a stickup or a holdup,” Mr. Herlihy recalled.

“Connie grabbed the gun and pointing it toward the ceiling. A shot went from that gun,” he said.

The second man freed his gun from the entangled hands.

“In front of him was Sean. He fired a shot and killed Sean,” Mr. Herlihy said. “It was pandemonium now. Sean was lying dead on the floor. He never uttered a word.”

The two men ran off. The Herlihy family turned off the lights, fearful the men would return. The doorbell rang.

“We put all the lights out. I crawled to the side so I could look out,” Mr. Herlihy said. “It was a neighbor.”

The neighbors heard the shots. Only a hat was left behind by the suspects.

Police wondered if it was a robbery attempt. An extensive investigation followed. Mr. Herlihy's aunt, who saw the men, was asked several times by the police at the time to review photographs of people. None was identified as a suspect.

Mr. Goggin's body was flown back to Ireland. Mr. Goggin's family is hoping for some closure. His friend, Mr. Herlihy, and his family hope for the same.

“I know a lot of people would say, 'Great, 60 years, who would care? They are all dead,'” Ms. Knittle said. “People do care. We would care.”